Abia State rides on wings of ‘Ochendo’

By Don Norman Obinna

Despondency has suddenly given way to optimism in Abia State.
Covert feudalism, a subtle political weapon used by the wealthy
few to enslave the masses, has now been eroded by
egalitarianism. Like the biblical Israelites, the people of Abia State
Central Senatorial District are within a touching distance to their
long anticipated land of Eldorado, thanks to Senator Theodore
Ahamefula Orji’s visionary style of leadership.
For the people of Isialangwa North and South, Osisioma, Ikwuano,
Umuahia North and South- the six local government areas that
constitute Abia Central Senatorial District- their choice of the man
best described as the sage of this generation and as Ochendo by
his teeming fans to represent them at the Red chambers of the
National Assembly was not just a perfect one but one divinely
orchestrated to put them at the forefront of unprecedented
development. This was perhaps responsible for the conferment
on him with the unique traditional title, Opuru Iche 1 of Igboland,
by Abia traditional rulers before a large crowd of grateful Abians.
Of course, if not Ochendo who, during his era as the Governor of
Abia State, made scores of Abia indigenes millionaires through
genuine empowerment and, in less than seven months as a
senator, awarded scholarship to 60 indigent intelligent
undergraduate students through a scholarship scheme designed
to produce 240 students in four years, and the distribution of
600 bags of rice to the aged ones, indigent widows and the less
privileged, the cap would certainly fit no one else in Abia the
State.
If that benevolence was a jaw breaking blow to his critics, then
the breathtaking event of Saturday 9th April 2016 which
witnessed the distribution of 20 2.5KVA generators, 20 sewing
machines, 14 motor cycles, eight tricycles, 15 wheel chairs, 20
grinding machines, two 18-Seater buses and 100 fertilizers to
various artisans and farmers who were in dire need of them to
aid their vocation and farm produce in less than his one year in
the National Assembly, has surely made nonsense of the
vituperations against him by his critics.
Honestly the moment would not be captured well without the
emotion laden speech of one of the beneficiaries, Mr. Samuel
Enyeribe from Isialangwa who described the occasion as the
restoration of limbs and arms to the physically challenged and
given of flesh to the dry bones by a man whose commitment is
to the service of God and humanity. while thanking God for giving
the people of Abia Central the wisdom to chose Senator Orji as
their representative in the NASS, Mr. Enyeribe noted that Ochendo,
with these actions, has once again proved that he is not in
government for business, but rather for the well being of his
people who he has continually shown love since 2007.
In his opening remark at the event which was hosted in
Ochendo’s constituency office at Ojike Street, Umuahia, the Abia
State capital, the Deputy Chairman, Abia State Peoples’
Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Allen Nwachukwu who bequeathed
Sen. Orji with various traditional titles said that his good works to
humanity will always locate him. He recalled with excitement how
Sen. Orji stood out from the crowd by refusing to undermine the
Abia charter of equity in the face of pressure and intimidation by
some political hawks in the state even when such decision would
have taken his life.

Don Norman Obinna is media aide to Sen. Orji.